Students for Life placed 250 American flags into the grass in the green area between the Oakland Center and Kresge
Library. Each flag was meant to symbolize 18 casualties due to abortion, which is how many die each day according to the
campus organization.

Tragedy unites campus
Suicide.
It’s the second leading cause of death
among college students according to the
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
It’s certainly affected Oakland University.
One year ago, Corey Jackson, a 19-yearold sophomore who lived in the residence
halls, committed suicide on campus.
It came at a very rough time for the LGBTQ community; just as other gay teenagers across the nation were succumbing to
suicide due to relentless bullying.
He had recently come out to friends and
family, but officials and close friends observed no evidence of bullying.
It’s an understatement to say that Corey’s
death stunned the OU community.
Oakland Post staffers were working on
an issue of the newspaper on a Tuesday
evening when an email blast alerted campus
community members to the death of a residential student on campus.
Stunned. That was the reaction students
had to the email.
Confused. That’s how people felt when
the investigation was still ongoing.
Stunned. When details of a suicide on
campus surfaced, campus community mem-

bers became increasingly at a loss for words.
Confused. Those who were close to Corey described his warm smile and effervescent personality.
There was an outpouring of support for
Corey’s family in the days following — a
testament to the effect Corey’s presence had
on this campus.

Though it was a mournful
occasion, Corey’s tragic
death brought about a sense
of caring and compassion
among students.
Students wore purple in response to gay
suicides like Jackson’s and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity brothers wore black ribbons
to commemorate his life. A candlelight vigil
was quickly organized.
In a note sent to students the day after
Corey’s death, OU President Gary Russi
asked students to “not focus on the manner
of Corey’s death, but rather celebrate the
life he lived and the people he touched.”
And that’s what we should remember as
we gather again near Bear Lake on the oneyear anniversary of Corey’s passing.
Gay/Straight Alliance President Alexa

Van Vliet said she’s working to keep his
memory alive and to prevent the same
thing from happening on campus again.
The vigil Wednesday will allow us to celebrate his life once again. Perhaps the memorial garden being planned in his memory
will also continue that.
But it’s important to remind students,
staff and faculty that resources for those
dealing with these difficult issues are available on campus. Students can get six free
counseling sessions at Graham Health Center.
The counseling center is open from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. and support is available to
students who are going through crises.
Though formal counseling is not available through the Gender and Sexuality
Center, the center does provide support and
resources for students regarding issues of
sexuality and gender.
When hundreds stood out by Bear Lake
and faced the elements for that first candlelight vigil, it showed that the campus community could band together to make a difference and support one another.
Though it was a mournful occasion, Corey’s tragic death brought about a sense of
caring and compassion among students.
Let’s keep that spirit alive.

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rank, phone number and field of study.
Please limit letters to 250 words or less.
Letters may be edited for clarity,
length and grammar.

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Submit samples of previous work to
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full contact information. You can also
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and Thursdays at 61 Oakland Center.

The views expressed in Perspectives do not
necessarily reflect those of The Oakland Post.

4 // Perspectives

October 19, 2011

Stop the continued stressing
COLUMN
Stress. We all have it in some way, shape
or form; It could show itself in how we
interact with people, how we see ourselves
or even how we handle our responsibilities
as college students.
Between class, work, friends, family,
significant others, student organizations
and hobbies, how do we ever find time for
ourselves?
Managing stress isn’t brain surgery, but
for most of us dealing with stress it can
be so overwhelming we just don’t know
where to start.
As a strong believer in natural remedies,
I have come up with a list of stress-relieving tips that you can incorporate into your
daily routine that might make a world of
difference for your mental and physical
health:
Exercise is a great way to get your mind
off of the day’s events and focus solely on
your body’s movements.
Exercise has been proven in a study conducted by Arizona State University, to release endorphins in the brain, which helps
improve your mood and relieve anxiety.
Meditation can be broken down into
multiple categories for stress relief. Each
relaxation technique has something different to offer:
Deep breathing meditation involves

Brittany Haney
Staff Intern

long, slow breaths that should be taken
from the abdomen rather than the chest.
Placing one hand on your stomach and
the other on your chest, inhale through
your nose.
Your abdomen should rise as you inhale,
and fall as you exhale out of your mouth.
This allows you to take in more oxygen
and relax.
Progressive muscle relaxation technique
helps alleviate tension in muscles in your
body usually connected with stress and
anxiety.
The progressive tensing of muscles helps
you focus on your breathing and recognize
the feeling of your muscles tensing and
relaxing.
It is recommended to start at the feet and
work your way up to the facial muscles.
For example, tense your feet muscles,
allow them to relax, and then move on
to your calf muscles, thigh muscles and

abdominal region.
Take your time and focus on your
breathing during this exercise.
Body scan meditation is a type of meditation that is done best while lying down in
your bed before you fall asleep.
Starting at either your face or feet, focus
your mind to more specific parts on your
body, for example, the soles of your feet,
your ankles, or moving up to you knees.
Focus your mind completely on this
part of the body and pay close attention to
how it feels, imagine your breath flowing
through that area.

Between class, work, friends,
family, significant others, student organizations, and hobbies, how do we ever find time
for ourselves?
After you have focused on each part of
your body, stretch and lay still for a few
minutes to relax.
Practicing visualization by closing your
eyes and envisioning yourself on an island,
in nature, or somewhere peaceful and quiet
is also a great way to relax.
By taking your mind somewhere comforting and familiar you are able to release
tension and slow down any thoughts racing through your mind causing you anxiety

or excess stress.
Yoga is a wonderful stress reliever and
can be practiced throughout your entire
life.
Yoga focuses on your body’s movements,
stretching, breathing and meditation.
There are many different levels of yoga
and anyone can start at a beginner level.
Yoga is very accessible: DVD’s can be purchased online, or at stores, YouTube videos
also have short yoga sessions.
The recreation center on campus also
offers classes in different styles of yoga at
many different times to work with your
schedule.
Music can be a great healer and form of
stress relief. You can play an instrument to
relieve stress or just turn up the tunes and
jam out to your favorite songs.
Soothing sounds can be also be purchased on CDs or found online, such as,
beach sounds, wind in the trees, calming
forest sounds, or even cars on the road.
Sometimes the best stress relief is to just
sit down with a friend, family member or
even a counselor and just talk it out.
You might be surprised at how much
better you feel when you share your
doubts, fears and emotions with others,
because you’re not alone.
— For some information on the Stress
Less Fest, flip to page 7.

CORRECTIONS CORNER
The Oakland Post corrects all errors of fact. If you know of an error,
please e-mail managing@oaklandpostonline.com or call 248.370.2537.
You can also write us at 61 Oakland Center Rochester, MI 48309.
If you are interested in writing a guest column for the Perspectives section, e-mail editor@oaklandpostonline.com or call 248.370.4268.

Campus

October 19, 2011

5

www.oaklandpostonline.com

A time for remembrance
By KAY T. NGUYEN
Editor-in-Chief

One year has passed since Corey Jackson, an Oakland University sophomore,
committed suicide on campus, but his close
friends and campus community members
are working to keep his memory alive.
Jackson, 19, lived in the residence halls
and had come out as a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
community shortly before his suicide.
A candlelight vigil will be held Wednesday from 9-11 p.m. between Vandenberg
Hall and Bear Lake.
Hundreds of people gathered for a candlelight vigil in the same location following
Jackson’s death last year despite heavy rain
and frigid temperatures.
Jake Hendricks hopes that the vigil he is
organizing this Wednesday will draw an
even larger crowd to Bear Lake. The vigil
will be moved to the Pioneer Food Court in
case of inclement weather.
Hendricks, a senior at the University of
Michigan, said he remembers Jackson for
his smile and wants vigil attendees to think
of it as a celebration of life rather than reflection on a tragedy.
“We want to celebrate this and we don’
t want the sadness we felt a year ago,” Hendricks said. “We want more smiles and

memories than tears.”
Campus community members and members of Jackson’s family will be speaking following a moment of silence and prayer.
“My goal is to make those that feel low
believe that they were born for this world
for a reason and that suicide is not the way
to go,” Hendricks said. “(Jackson’s) left so
many people behind who love him very
much.”
Friends and family are rallying around
the organization of the event, but Hendricks
said he hasn’t drummed up a lot of campus
support aside from the Gay/Straight Alliance.
He said it was alright though, as he wants
this vigil to be more personal than the vigil
organized last year by Oakland students.
“It’s only appropriate that this time
around, we make this a production for ourselves and make it our own,” Hendricks said.
“The people that knew him best should be
able to put on a better memorial service.”
Alexa Van Vliet, president of the Gay/
Straight Alliance (GSA), has been organizing
the campus logistics of the vigil.
She is also spearheading on-campus efforts to establish a memorial garden in Jackson’s honor though she didn’t know him
personally.
“What’s most important to me is that
this is never forgotten and it’s not just be-

10 things discussed at
the College of Arts
and Sciences ‘State of
the College’ Address:
10. Two CAS faculty members — Matthew Fails, assistant professor of political science and Lakshmi Raman, assistant professor of psychology — were awarded the Marian P. Wilson award, which recognizes the outstanding
writing and research of professors.
9. In addition to those awards, two CAS faculty members
were also recognized for a new faculty engagement award
— Richard Stamps, associate professor of psychology and
sociology and Jerrold Grossman, mathematics professor
were given an award that honored professors for their oncampus engagement.

cause I’m looking at it through the GSA lens
because someone who identified as a gay
man,” Van Vliet said. “He was someone who
was really involved in the OU community.”
Hendricks, along with Macomb Community College student Matt Krajenke have
plans to begin collecting donations for the
Corey Jackson Memorial Fund, which will
help establish the garden.
According to Hendricks, Krajenke didn’t
know Jackson personally but wanted to be
involved with the project because he was a
part of the LGBT community.
“Sometimes I wish I knew him because it
would give more meaning to the fact that I
am helping plan this,” Van Vliet said. “But
seeing all the pain from the community this
year gives me the motivation to prevent
this from happening again.”
A suicide prevention forum led by Ellen Keyt, a psychologist at Graham Health
Center, is being held in Fireside Lounge
Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
The counseling program, the Tau Kappa
Epsilon fraternity and the Tau Sigma sorority and the Gay/Straight Alliance are cosponsoring the event.
“Suicide is something that needs to be
talked about more on college campuses: It
can’t be pushed under the rug,” Van Vliet
said. “Getting help is really encouraged and
we want people to know they can get help.”

8. Two students were recipients of national-level awards.
Jason Willis, a senior majoring in new media, was named
Student Designer of the Year by the Society of News Design and Adam Hobart, a graduate student, recently won the
Nels Andrew Cleven award for a senior project in history.
7. CAS is currently the largest college on campus, comprised of 6,036 students enrolled in CAS majors, a four percent increase from last year.
6. The major would like to make writing a priority for
the college. Ron Sudol, dean of CAS, said that he hopes that
the Oakland University students will be known for their
writing quality.
“I think it’ll be great if it could be understood that when
you attend OU, you’ll be writing,” he said.
5. New majors and graduate study programs that are currently in the process of being approved. A proposal for a
bachelor of sciences major in biomedical sciences is waiting
for a board of trustees approval, a bachelor of arts major in
graphic design, a masters of science and Ph.D. in psychology and a Ph.D. in computational physics are awaiting

approval in the senate, and a criminal justice major is currently in the works in the committee of instruction level.
4. In regards to President Gary Russi’s mission to move
more classes online, it was suggested that night classes be
converted to online classes to make it easier and more convenient to students in the classes.
3. Because it costs less to hire CAS faculty, 17 faculty positions are now available in the college in various departments.
2. The college has experienced an increase in the rate of
student retention. According to Sudol, the college has a 7
percent increase in retention, which exceeds the university
average of 4 percent.
1. Sudol has been working closely with architects to design and draft two new on campus buildings for the college
to present to the state — one for the arts and humanities and
the other for the social sciences. They are proposing that
Varner Hall be gutted and repurposed into an arts building.
— Nichole Seguin, Managing Content Editor

6 // Campus

October 19, 2011

www.oaklandpostonline.com

Separating science and myth
By MIKE ESPEJO
OU News Bureau

Up to a certain age, children believe fairy
tales, urban legends and the stage tricks of
magicians.
This gullibility may have played an important role in the evolution of humans, according to world-renown biologist Richard
Dawkins.
“A child who listens to their parent survives,” he said. “Gullibility, when you’re
young, has survival value.”
But there’s a catch.
“It indirectly makes you believe not just
useful things like ‘don’t swim with the crocodiles,’ but also useless things like sacrificing goats in order to get rain,” he said. “As
far as the child brain is concerned, it cannot
tell the difference between the useful advice
and the nonsense.”
This idea that children are likely to believe myths and falsehoods motivated
Dawkins to write his latest book, “The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True,” from which he read excerpts to a
group of children Friday at the Lowry Center in Oakland University’s Pawley Hall.
The British author and biologist had just
finished the last leg of his North American
book tour for this latest publication. He
gave a keynote lecture to OU students and
faculty on Oct 13.
Dawkins is well known in the scientific
community for his contributions to evolutionary biology and is the author of several
books, including the controversial best seller, “The God Delusion,” in which he argues
against religion, creationism and the existence of a creator.
While visiting Michigan, Dawkins and
other guests were barred from entering a
Rochester Hills country club after the owners learned of his stance on religion. He referred to the event as “sheer bigotry.”
For the Lowry Center reading, about a
dozen children sat on the floor of the building’s atrium and listened to the author read
excerpts from his book. He talked about the
difference between science and myth.
“This special reading was originally
planned for Rochester Adams High School,
but it didn’t work out so we just sort of
played it by ear,” said Todd Shackelford,
chair of OU’s psychology department and
coordinator of Dawkins’ visit to OU.
“The children here today are those of fac-

ANDREW CRAIG/The Oakland Post

Renowned biologist Richard Dawkins gave a keynote lecture to OU students and staff.
ulty and friends,” Shackelford said.
Dawkins said the book is appropriate for
all ages, the children at the reading ranged
from kindergarten to high school.
Sam Garfinkle, self-proclaimed science
buff and son of OU physics professor David
Garfinkle, wore his “Magic of Reality 2011
Tour” T-shirt, clutching his signed copy of
Dawkins’ new illustrated book.
The younger Garfinkle, a student at
Rochester Adams High School and an admirer of Dawkins, said, “I’ve recently started
to read (Dawkins’ last book), but I’m excited
to hear more about this one and to see what
Dawkins has to say about it.”
“The Magic of Reality” and its interactive iPad eBook counterpart are divided
into chapters that pose questions about the
natural world such as: Why is there night
and day? Who was the first person?
Prefacing each chapter are myths from
around the world that were at one time or
place believed to be valid explanations of
these particular phenomena.
Dawkins began his reading with a story
of the Aztec sun gods. Scrolling the iPad
pages, he told a fantastical story of Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl and their epic battles in
the sky that the ancient Aztecs believed to
be the origins of the sun.
“But what is the sun really?” he asked the
children. “A star, that’s absolutely right. It
is a star that is no different than any other
star and we just happen to be near it, so it
looks so much bigger.”
During the reading, Dawkins demonstrated games and animations that go along
with each chapter on the iPad app that was
projected onto a flat screen TV.

One interactive animation allowed the
children to see the relative size of the Earth
in comparison to other planets in the solar
system and the sun. Dawkins then zoomed
even farther back to see that much larger
supergiant stars dwarf our sun.
His idea for an interactive, illustrated and

captivating book written for young people
was straightforward. He said, “The children
need to be encouraged to exercise their critical faculties.”
Although types of “magic” are believed
by some, Dawkins maintained that science
and reason trump any myth, belief or even
religion that fails to provide hard evidence
to support its claims.
“Anybody that tells you evolution is a
discredited theory is either ignorant, insane
or wicked,” said Dawkins. “Ignorance is
something to be remedied. It is not something to be proud of.”
Real “magic,” he said, exists in science,
natural beauty and humanity.
“Magic in this sense means deeply moving … something that makes us feel more
fully alive,” he said. “What I hope this
book shows is that reality — the facts of
the real world and understood through
the methods of science — is magical.”
View this story at ounewsbureau.com

Make A Difference Day

500 Students volunteered in 2009 & 2010

Sat. October 22nd
8:00AM - 2:00PM (Lunch Provided)
Come be a part in the biggest national
day of service with over 3 million people
serving their communities!

Register Online at: www.oakland.edu/makeadiﬀerenceday
The VIP program recognizes and rewards OU students,
faculty and staff for their volunteer efforts.
If Interested in Voluteering, this is the coupon for you!

Redeemable at the Leadership
and Volunteer Center [in the CSA]
for one* free mystery gift!
*One mystery gift per person.

October 19, 2011

www.oaklandpostonline.com

Campus // 7

Students relax at stress fest
By BRITTANY HANEY
Staff Intern

A student-run event will be
hosted Tuesday, Oct. 25 from
11:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m. to help
students learn how to manage
stress and participate in stress
relieving techniques.
The Stress Less Fest, sponsored by the Graham Health
Center, will have multiple
tables and presentations that
provide information on stress
management and reduction
techniques.
Amber Tymn, wellness,
health promotion and injury
prevention major, with help
from health and wellness coordinator and professor, Julie
Proctor, organized the event for
her senior project.
“I was discussing ideas with

BRITTANY HANEY/The Oakland Post

The Stress Less Fest will feature stress-management techniques.
Professor Proctor for an event
from last year and I personally
feel it’s essential for students to
know how to properly manage
stress,” Tymn said.
Recreation Center interns
will have booths set up to help
explain how exercise lowers
stress levels, along with other

presentations, including relaxation breathing, time management, laughter yoga, massage
therapy and pet therapy.
“Last year there were stressrelated brochures outside my
office that were hardly touched,
but this year I have been completely wiped out of them,”

Proctor said. “That tells me
that stress is playing a huge role
in students’ lives.”
Prizes will be given away during the event in a raffle drawing
and attendees will be treated
with a special guest comedian
to provide entertainment.
The Stress Less Fest will be
held in the Gold Rooms in the
Oakland Center. It is free and
open to all OU students.
For more information, visit
oakland.edu/campusrec

The Center for Excellence in
Teaching and Learning sponsored a workshop on facilitating
better communication between
disabled students and faculty in
the academic setting on Oct. 14.
Students with disabilities
comprised three percent of
Oakland University’s student
population last year. The workshop, entitled “Working with
Students with Disabilities,” was
held in order to address faculty
questions and concerns in an
environment where the presence of a disability isn’t always
obvious.
One major theme according
to Linda Sisson, director of Disability Support Services at OU
was “invisible disabilities.”
According to Sisson, it’s always been easy to identify the
person in the wheelchair. There
is a chance this person does not
even require an adjustment in

order to properly access the curriculum. In contrast, if someone
has a learning disability such as
dyslexia, they could act normal,
but in reality struggle with the
material.
Despite the continuing evolution of disabilities Sisson said
the answer to these invisible
disabilities is simple.
“It’s all about communication,” she said.
To get the necessary accommodations for a course, students
must present a copy of the notification letter from the DSS to
the professor before or after the
first class session. After presenting the letter, the students must
talk to them regarding the accommodations he or she needs
in order to learn efficiently.
Much of the discussion focused on students that professors thought might qualify
for services through DSS, but
hadn’t come to them. Sisson
said this problem might be

rooted in previous experiences.
“All throughout school —
secondary and below — they’ve
had a label, a stigma,” she said.
“‘I’m going to do this on my
own and I’m going to start out
fresh. I’m going to try to do it
on my own and I think I know
all about this.’ But sometimes
they don’t.”
This results in students coming to the DSS later in the semester, after falling behind or
experiencing trouble. Sometimes they don’t come in at all.
Sisson said that if a faculty
member notices a student struggling that they list DSS among
OU’s other support services.
Even if a student discloses
their disability, the problems
don’t necessarily stop there.
“One of the most challenging
questions involves how to best
accommodate the special needs
of students while at the same
time not compromising the essential educational expectations

of the professor,” David Lau,
interim director of the Center
for Excellence in Teaching and
Learning, said.
One example given at the
discussion involved professors
that lecture and administer exams in the same class period. In
this scenario, if a student goes
to the DSS office to take a test,
they could easily miss part of
the lecture.
Sisson said instructors should
contact them to see if they can
modify the class plan in a way
that wouldn’t cause too much
inconvenience for the professor
or the other students.
Some accommodations offered through DSS include extended testing time, access to
assistive technology, scribes for
exams and note takers.
The DSS office is located in
121 North Foundation Hall.
For more information about
DSS and their services, visit
oakland.edu/dss

Suspicious male in Vandenberg
cafeteria

On Tuesday, Oct. 11, officers
were called to Vandenberg cafeteria
about a suspicious man. A male
who made the complaint told
officers that he observed an older
male who approached several
females two weeks prior, asking
for their phone numbers and if
they wanted a massage. The male
said the suspicious person was
harassing the female employees.
Officers approached the suspicious
male and told officers that he was
on campus, but denies the claims.
He also stated he was registered at
OU, but not a student at this time.
It was determined the man’s claims
were false and he was banned from
the campus grounds since he had
no official business with OU and
has never been a student.

Search for contraband in student
apartments
On Thursday, Oct. 13, officers
reported to student apartments to
investigate illegal marijuana use.
Officers reported the apartment
smelled like marijuana smoke. After
getting consent to search the room
of the male student in question, a
small marijuana seed was found.
One of the occupants said they
had been smoking Black and Mild
cigars. No further action was taken.

Reports of drunken students

On Sunday, Oct. 16, officers were
dispatched to student apartments
after reports of a party with an
marijuana odor. Officers met with
two male residents who said there
was no drinking or drug use. The
males denied that anyone else was
in the apartment, but the officers
found two more male students
and four female students hiding in
other rooms. The first male student
did not cooperate with officers —
giving them a false identification.
The student resisted arrest. After
being forced into handcuffs, he
gave officers his real name. The
underage male showed a BAC of
.157, and was issued a minor in
possession citation.
— Compiled by Kevin Romanchik,
Scene Editor

8 // Campus

October 19, 2011

www.oaklandpostonline.com

Vegan class merits award
By MADELINE LOSHAW
Staff Intern

Harold&Kumar Movie Marathon
On Friday Oct. 21, OU students
are invited to a special movie
marathon featuring “Harold &
Kumar Go To White Castle” and
“Harold & Kumar Escape From
Guantanamo Bay”.
There will be complementary
White Castle Burgers, trivia on the
films and waffles and swag. Wear
your ugly Holiday sweater for a
chance to win VIP screening tickets
to the upcoming release of “A Very
Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas”
The event starts at 7 p.m. in 201
Dodge Hall.

Ideas 2 Business lab open house
OU’s new Ideas 2 Business
Lab offers all the resources
that students, faculty and staff
members at OU and Cooley Law
School need to help them explore
and launch a new business
venture. There will be an open
house held on Nov. 3 at 3 p.m.
at the OU INC in the Shotwell
Gustafson Pavilion.
All OU and Cooley Law
entrepreneurs are welcome.

Depression/anxiety workshops
Two interactive workshops will
be held on the topics of anxiety
and depression on Nov. 8 from 12
- 1 p.m. in the Lake Michigan room
in the Oakland Center.
The workshops will provide tools
and help for people to cope with
depression and anxiety. The event
is open to the OU community.

Poetry reading with Michael
Heffernan

The Department of English is
sponsoring a poetry reading with
Michael Heffernan on Nov. 7 from
4:30 - 6:00 p.m. in the banquet
rooms. Heffernan is an award
winning poet and has published
eight books of poetry.
The event is open to the Oakland
community and general public.
Refreshments will be served.

­— Compiled by Megan Semeraz,
Campus Editor

Oakland University was
awarded a Compassionate Campus Award for a course called “A
Lifestyle Change To Improve
Health: The Vegan Diet” offered in the School of Nursing.
The award comes from peta2,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal’s (PETA) youth
division.
Marilyn Mouradjian, Adjunct
professor of nursing, was told
that she won the award through
an e-mail from the PETA, right
after she began teaching the
course. She was presented with
the award Tuesday by School of
Nursing Dean, Kerri Shuiling.
“It’s so nice to be recognized,
especially when you feel like
the course you’re teaching is
both beneficial to humans and
animals,” Mouradjian said.
Participants in the course
learn about the many health
benefits of a vegan diet — including weight loss, higher energy levels, better health and
lower susceptibility to diseases.
“There is compelling and

overwhelming scientific evidence-based research out there
saying that plant-based diets do
away with many of the chronic
non-communicable
diseases
out there — heart disease, a lot
of cancers, diabetes type two
— things that are related to
the way we’re currently eating,
which is very poor nutritionally,” Mouradjian said.
The course is offered online
and open to the public, which
able to reach a broader audience
than just OU students.
“I currently have 17 students,” Mouradjian said. “One
from New Zealand, one from
the United Kingdom, two from
Canada, and then, of course, we
have people from Michigan,
but I (also) have people from all
over the U.S.”
Students learn from Powerpoints, links, discussions, films
and vegan recipes.
“I’ve set it up so they’re going to learn quite a bit both
from the course and each other,”
Mouradjian said. “It’s all about
interacting. They say they’re
learning a lot. They’re learning

MADELINE LOSHAW / The Oakland Post

OU nursing professor Marilyn Mouradjian was presented with
an award from peta2 for a course she taught about veganism.
not only from me, but from each
other. They are really excited
about finding out ways in which
to be a healthy vegan.”
Sophomore biology major
Alex Morton is a vegetarian student living on campus. She said
the course is a step in the right
direction for OU’s environmental concerns.
Morton said she appreciates
that the course is being taught,
but the food options on campus
could be better.
“It’s contradictory with options for food on campus,” she
said. “The OC is pretty good,

but the cafeteria could do better.”
Mouradjian, on the other
hand, believes there’s a variety
of options for vegans and vegetarians.
“We have great vegan and
vegetarian offerings right here
on campus … Coyote Jacks
serves fantastic garden burgers — they are the best,” Mouradjian said. “You can easily be
vegan or vegetarian by going to
the OC.”
For more information about
veganism, vegetarianism and
peta2, visit peta2.com

Int’l students learn new traditions
By MISHA MAYHAND
Staff Intern

Oakland University’s International Students and Scholars Office are teaming up
with the International Allies Organization
and the Center for Multicultural Initiatives
to sponsor the fourth annual Halloween
Fun Night.
The event takes place on Friday, Oct. 28
from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. of the Oakland Center’s Banquet Rooms.
Petra Knoche, assistant director of ISSO,
said it’s important to teach students about
traditions such as Halloween, since it’s not
celebrated in all areas of the world.
Those who do celebrate Halloween, traditions and celebrations vary across the
globe. Some international OU students

may not know about the American tradition at all.
“It’s just such a unique holiday in the U.S.
that we want our scholars to learn about
Americans and what’s important to them,”
Knoche said.
Ashima Vohra, vice president of international allies, said this event will bring students together regardless of background,
culture or language.
The event will give international students an opportunity to enjoy this unique
American tradition — filled with costumes,
candy and spooky music. It will also give
domestic students a chance to enjoy a childhood tradition.
Halloween Night will have fun history of
Halloween, quizzes and prizes.
“It is not easy to assimilate to a new place,

a new language and a new culture,” Vohra
said.
The goal is to join students together.
The ISSO hosts five international events
per academic year.
Halloween Fun Night is part of the ISSO
Coffee Hour Series, which is held monthly.
It is to enrich and introduce students, faculty and staff to a variety of cultures found
on campus.
Each coffee hour focuses on a tradition or
celebration that is unique to a specific culture and encourages international friendships. Students and faculty alike are welcome to attend.
Halloween Fun Night activities include
pumpkin carving and painting, Halloweenthemed games, prizes for the best costume
and more. There is no cost to attend.

October 19, 2011

Campus // 9

www.oaklandpostonline.com

Students aim to improve local community
By JUSTIN COLMAN
Copy Editor

On Oct. 22, Oakland University students
and alumni, and Oakland Community College will partner with the United Way of
Southeastern Michigan for National Make
a Difference Day.
The event, which starts 8 a.m. Saturday,
allows participants to give back to the local
community.
Volunteers will travel to Pontiac High
School to register for the day, where they
will receive training and instruction. After
that, they will go to their designated site.
Sites this year include Pontiac High
School, the Baldwin Center and Salvation
Army.
“Depending on where you are assigned,
there will be a description of what you are
doing,” Ambriah Brown, of the Michigan
Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA, said.
Volunteers serving at Pontiac High
School will have different options in regards of their contribution, including cleaning the interior of the school.

“It’s a highly needed thing because everyone wants to go to a school with a clean
environment, a nice environment,” Brown
said. “But with the economy (today), they
might have the needs to do that, to have
a person who can make sure this closet is
cleaned out or that all of the materials are
neatly organized.”
Some volunteers can participate in other
means, including, helping students read or
encouraging the discussion of college.
Those chosen to help students read will
be part of the Beyond Basics Book Buddies
group, where they will receive training to
do so effectively.
Brown said that encouraging college discussion at Pontiac High School, is meant to
plant a seed of optimism and motivation in
the minds of students.
“College is for everyone, which it is, saying not, ‘are you going to go to college’ but
‘where are you going to go to college? (can
make a big difference)’ Brown said.
Volunteers at the Baldwin Center can
help the effort by cleaning and sanitizing,
painting and working at the youth center or

the library.
Brown said that Make a Difference Day
is one of the most highly attended service
events that students take part of.
In the past two years, the Center for Student Activities said there have been over
500 participants, indicating the popularity
of the event.
Brown said at least 450 people signed up
to volunteer this year, 90 percent of which,
she says, are students from Oakland University.
“It’s actually full in terms of registration,
but we’re still accepting people,” Brown
said. “That number just helps you imagine
how big it is.”

Need to include a picture?
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additional formatting?
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*all advertising submitted for publication in The Oakland Post
is subject to acceptance by the newspaper, and The Oakland
Post reserves the right to reject copy at its sole discretion at
any time prior to publication

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Jennifer Wells, a senior health science
major, participated in Make a Difference
Day last year, volunteering at Pontiac High
School. She said that students can benefit
from volunteering.
“I think that it’s nice when individuals
help out others,” Wells said. “You’re always
blessed, and there’s always someone who
doesn’t have it as good as you, so if you
could give anybody a part of your blessing,
that makes their life a little bit better.”
Students interested in participating
are encouraged by Brown to e-mail her at
akbrown@oakland.edu. For more information on Make a Difference Day, visit
oakland.edu/makeadifferenceday

Discounts are available
for print and online
classiﬁed packages.

For more information
about volunteering,
visit
oakland.edu/volunteer

“W
iscovering

10

D
Faith
Groups of Faith at OU

Written and compiled by Jordan Gonzalez, Staff Intern

“I

Designed by Kaitlyn Chornoby, Managing Visual Editor

Jewish Student
Organization
“W

“

e ask for people to get to
know us, without prior
judgments. Ask questions, no
question is ignorant.

e try to enlighten people on Jewish students’ lives. We
try to show them we are college kids trying to have fun.”
— Sean Alpiner

The Jewish Student Organization is
geared towards recruiting Jewish students
to get them involved with a community
that shares a similar faith. Meetings have a
speaker who focuses on religious
discussions or topics relevant.
The dinners serve a kosher meal and are
followed by games and fellowship.

The JSO, which is affiliated with the larger Hillel of
Metro Detroit, organizes
meetings and dinners,
both of which are held
once every three weeks,
and are free and open to
all OU students.

For more information, contact Sean Alpiner at (248) 909-1629

— Nasihah Barlaskar,

Muslim Student Association

For more information about
other religious groups,
visit oaklandpostonline.com

have seen it grow and help out the
student body by giving them a place to
come and be heard and to pray with them.”
— Brandy Ellison

Glory Phi God

The Glory Phi God campus ministry provides an alternative avenue for born-again men and women so they can
affiliate with an organization that represents the doctrine
of Christianity. A large part of that mission is to win the
lost college campuses to Christ by reaching out to every
college student and showing them the love of God.
They meet every Tuesday in the Oakland Center at 7 p.m.
They also have small faith groups that meet around campus throughout the week.
For more information, email ougphig@gmail.com

11

www.oaklandpostonline.com

Occult Studies
The Occult Studies Student
Organization studies different
sects of the occult from an objective standpoint, including anything
ritualistic, magickal, spiritual and
mystical. Although the group deals
with the supernatural, they want to
steer away from the idea that they
are a religious organization.

“W

“I

The reason
why magic
is spelled
“magick” in
their mission
statement; the
“k” symbolizes
that it is not
stage magic.

like to balance things: the mind, body and the soul; my
mind through academic organizations and studying,
my body through working out, and the MSA for the soul.

— Mark Martinez

The OSSO has a large library of the occult, and they meet
weekly to discuss and study such matters. Their meetings
are on Fridays at 6:30 in room 125 in the OC.

“I

t is a living community. We are
not satisfied with being a closed
social club, it is constantly expanding.”
— Amaal Haimout

“T

Agape is a catholic campus community group, affiliated with St. John
Fisher Parish. They are a community
of young believers who gather for a
variety of spiritual, social and service
opportunities.
Contact emgoodma@oakland.edu or
abad@oakland.edu for more info.

Converge, a large group, meets every
Thursday in the Oakland Room at 7 p.m.
Connect group, or small groups, studies
in different places. Search OUIVCF on
Facebook for more information.

o me, InterVarsity’s community has had a huge
impact on my life. Being a commuter, I had a hard
time getting connected to people outside of my classes.
But through InterVarsity, I have made lasting friendships and I always know I have friends I can count on.”
— Chris Herberg

A fundraising dinner will
be held Nov. 20 from 6-9
p.m. at the Muslim Unity
Center.
The money raised will be
donated to a free clinic in
Detroit.

For more information, e-mail msaoakland@gmail.com

InterVarsity Christian
Fellowship
The InterVarsity Christian
Fellowship aspires to create the missing communities, where anyone can ask
questions and study the
Bible.

— Amaal Haimout

The goals of the Muslim Student Association include spreading Islamic awareness, educating students and attempting
to eliminate negative stereotypes about
Islam. They aspire to work with other
organizations with the same goals to form
a community. MSA meets every other
Tuesday at 12 p.m. in the Oakland Center.

e are an academic organization; while
we do practice these things, we are not
all fire, brimstone, black hats and cauldrons.

Agape

Muslim Student
Association

“

Every second Sunday of each month, there
is a mass at St. John Fisher Parish at 7 p.m.
They participate in scripture and faith sharing in
groups to attend to differing schedules.
Coffee and conversation is hosted every second
and fourth Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at
Caribou Coffee at Walton and Adams.

Young Life meets in the West Vandenberg Lounge every
Friday evening from 5-7 p.m. and occasionally go out afterward for coffee or a movie. Meetings consist of a short
Bible study and worship session, then break into small
groups and discuss the readings and the topic. After, the
group spends time getting to know one another.

Young Life
Young Life is a Christian organization that operates
worldwide. There are a variety of components to Young
Life, the main one being college students volunteering to
serve as mentors for high schoolers or middle schoolers,
teaching them about the Bible and leading them onto a
walk with Christ.

For more information, email emfourni@oakland.edu

12

October 19, 2011

www.oaklandpostonline.com

Basketball picked 2nd in Summit
By KEVIN ROMANCHIK
Scene Editor

After claiming the Summit
League championship for the last
two years and back-to-back trips
to NCAA tournaments, the Oakland University men’s basketball
team was picked second in the
Summit League Preseason Poll
with four first-place votes, while
rival Oral Roberts received 27 of
the 32 first place votes as the favorite to take the league championship.
“I don’t care about that stuff,”
said head coach Greg Kampe. “I
will tell you that I’m surprised
that we weren’t picked to win (the
league title) because we’ve won 50
of our last 53 league games.”
Regardless of outside opinions,
coaches and players agree that
team goals are more important
than rankings and accolades.
“We are focused on us,” Reggie
Hamilton, senior guard and AllSummit First Team player, said.
“We know what this team is capable of.”
The departure of three of OU’s
most-decorated seniors, including
NBA draft pick Keith Benson and
overseas professionals Will Hudson and Larry Wright, is the likely
reason that voters were down on
Oakland.
“If you put Michigan State jerseys on us the last few years, we
could have been a Michigan State
team with our size,” Kampe said.
“We are going to be much different but that doesn’t mean we can’t
be as good or better.”
The Golden Grizzlies return
starting senior guard Hamilton
and sophomore forward Drew

Grizzly
Score
Board

Valentine after losing starters in
Benson, Wright and Hudson.
Despite not being the starting
point guard at the beginning of
last season, Hamilton earned the
position when Wright fell to injuries and finished as a top assistmen in the Summit League with
5.3 per game.
“(Hamilton) proved to me that
he could still score and run our
point,” Kampe said. “He’s pretty
much going to have the ball and
he’s going to have to make great
decisions.”
Valentine, who led the Summit
League with 1.7 steals per game
last season, will be looked upon to
continue growing.
“Drew Valentine is probably
the best all around player in our
conference,” Kampe said. “There’s
a reason we’ve won a championship every year Drew Valentine
has been in our program.”
Mid-Major All-American sophomore guard Travis Bader finished
last season with 94 3-pointers
made and shot 44 percent from
the three-point arc, good for ninth
place in the NCAA.
This season, however, he’s willing to further expand his role on
the team.
“Anything I can do to help the
team,” Bader said. “If they need me
to pass more, I’ll pass more. If they
need me to cheer louder, I’ll cheer
louder.”
Without Benson and Hudson in
the paint this season, Kampe and
his staff will lean heavily on freshmen centers Corey Petros and
Kyle Sikora for interior defense
and rebounding. Both players
were redshirted last season, but
their teammates think they are

GUSTAVO PESSUTTI/The Oakland Post

Members of the Oakland University men’s basketball team answer questions at Media Day. Oakland is
tabbed to finish second in the Summit League, after winning 50 of their last 53 Summit League games.
ready to step up for the Grizzlies.
“The young guys have been
doing a good job in practice and I
think they are ready to show what
they got,” Valentine said.
In three mid-August exhibition
games, the Golden Grizzlies won
two out of three games against the
University of Windsor and Western Ontario, but Kampe admits to
not having the full potential on
the floor.
“My biggest concern about this
team was rebounding,” Kampe
said. “In those three Canadian
games, we out-rebounded our opponents by 15 or 18 in all games;
that made me feel a lot better
about our team.”
Kampe expects to redshirt possibly two of the three incoming

Oct. 12
Men’s Soccer vs.
Michigan
L, 2-1 (2OT)

freshman because of depth.
They are Korab Imami, 6-foot10 inch center; Matt Poches, guard
from Hartland High School; and
Dante Williams, 6-foot-6 inch forward and Ann Arbor native.
“I expect in the next four or five
years that those guys will be big
name players,” Kampe said. “I’ll be
very surprised if they are not.”
The Golden Grizzlies open the
2011-12 season by traveling to Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Nov. 14 to take on
the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, and then head to Arkansas on Nov. 16.
In the biggest home game of
Oakland basketball history, the
University of Tennessee Volunteers will be coming to the O’Rena
on Nov. 28. To the cheers of

Oct. 16

Oct. 15
Women’s Soccer at
South Dakota State
T, 0-0

Men’s Soccer vs.
IPFW
W, 1-0

many Grizzly fans in attendance
at Midnight Madnezz, Kampe announced that the game would be
televised on ESPN in their 9 p.m.
primetime slot.
Other notable non-conference
games include Michigan at the
Palace of Auburn Hills on Dec. 10
and on the road against the University of Arizona on Dec. 20.
One major difference in scheduling, as opposed to past seasons,
is the number of home games that
OU will have.
“We’ve won 29 consecutive
league games in here; it’s pretty
amazing,” Kampe said. “Getting 15
home games should really help.”
Oakland will open at home
against Spring Arbor on Nov. 2 at
7 p.m. at the O’Rena.

Volleyball vs.
IPFW
L, 3-0

Women’s Soccer vs.
North Dakota State
L, 1-0

October 19, 2011

Sports // 13

www.oaklandpostonline.com

Freshmen look to make impact
By JORDAN REED
Staff Intern

GUSTAVO PESSUTTI/The Oakland Post

Brittany Carnago and Bethany Watterworth of the Oakland University women’s
basketball team answer questions about the upcoming season at Media Day.

‘Team effort’ necessary
for Summit League run
By SETH WALKER
Staff Reporter

With new additions and
a few players returning
from injury, a young Oakland University women’s
basketball team will look
to make a run in the Summit League in 2011.
The season kicked off
with head coach Beckie
Francis, along with members of the team, taking
part in Media Day.
The theme emphasized
by Oakland during the
press conference was it will
be “a team effort” this season.
“One person can’t get
you to win the Summit
League championship, it’s
all about the team,” junior
forward Bethany Watterworth said. “I know my
teammates have my back,
my teammates are very important for our success.”
Oakland will also be
healthy, after three teammates who missed most of
last season due to injury
return, and four incoming
freshmen join the team.
Victoria Lipscomb, Jenna
Bachrouche and Amy Carl-

ton only played in a combined 16 games last season
and will look to build on
three 20-win seasons in
four years.
Two of the four freshmen joining the team
are forward, Shelby Herrington and guard Peyton
Apsey, both from Hemlock,
Mich. They led their team
to the Class C State Semifinals as high school seniors.
The other freshmen,
guards Lauren Robak and
Halle Wrangler, were both
standouts in the Catholic
League. Robak led Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes
to two straight Class D
State titles while Wrangler
helped Royal Oak Shrine
win a district title.
Francis made it a point
to recruit from high level
basketball programs, noting several players have
won state championships
or made it far into the state
tournament in high school.
“We try to recruit from
the top high school programs in the area,” Francis
said. “Everybody on this
team is from a very successful winning program.”
Another key addition for

OU will be size. For most
of last season, Carnago was
the only active player OU
had that was at least 6-0.
Now there are three other
players, Bachrouche, Herrington and sophomore
Julia Vestin, who fit this
description.
Francis described all
three players as being
“good inside-out players”
with the ability to play on
the post and the perimeter.
The OU backcourt will
also have a great amount of
depth with nine guards.
According to Francis, all
of the guards collectively
are very skilled shooters.
With the makeup of
this year’s team, Calhoun
believes that the Grizzlies’
chances of winning the
Summit League championship are “great.”
“This team that we have
this year is just amazing,”
Calhoun said. “The work
ethic that they (the other
players) have, our defense
is already looking great.”
The Grizzlies will play
their first exhibition game
at home at the O’Rena
against Ferris State on Oct.
29 at 1 p.m.

Three incoming freshmen, Dante Williams, Korab Imami and Matt Poches, are
looking to make an impact on Oakland
University’s men’s basketball team.
“We recruited three very good players
that we think will help our program,” said
Greg Kampe , head coach.
Williams, a 6-foot-6 inch forward from
Ann Arbor high school, received national
attention from ESPN and gathered all-state
honors. Colorado, Eastern Michigan and
Providence, among others, scouted Williams, but he decided Oakland was the best
fit for him.
“One of the main reasons I chose Oakland was for the location,” Williams said.
“I’m close to home, so my family can come
and see my games.”
Korab Imami, a 6-foot-10 inch center
from Peje, Kosovo, has also been adjusting
to the team, as well adjusting to living in
the United States.
Last year, he attended Adelphi Christian
Academy in South Carolina and gained

scouting attention in the Converse Mo
Mentorship All-Star Game in high school.
As an international student, Imami has
found his teammates to be very helpful.
“I’m thankful to all the players, because
all of them go out of their way to help,”
Imami said. “In the first year that I was
here, it was hard for me to adjust, but my
host family and students have all been
helping me.”
Poches, a 6-foot-4 inch guard from Hartland high school, gathered all-state honors
and earned a spot on the Detroit News
Dream Team and was recognized by ESPN.
He was also named offensive player of the
year and team MVP at Hartland during his
senior season.
“We like his tenacity,” Kampe said. “We
like how hard he plays, we like that he’s
single minded and (that he) sticks to the
task.”
Kampe said that he likes what he has
seen so far from the freshman.
“We are looking forward to what the
new players can do for us,” Kampe said.
The Grizzlies will host Spring Arbor in
the O’ Rena on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m.

Medical marijuana is the
thing that has everyone buzzing
these days.
Several bills, no less than 16,
that would affect the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act,
have been introduced into
state legislature. If passed,
many of these bills would
undermine Michigan’s voterapproved law by preventing or discouraging patients
from accessing their doctorrecommended medicine.
Some of the proposed laws
would nullify the MMMA,
making it illegal for patients or
caregivers to obtain or provide
to others and by forbidding
patients who live near schools,
churches or day care centers to
cultivate in their own homes.
“I’m all for medical marijuana
if it is used correctly, because
there are definitely instances
where it is needed,” Kathryn
Marquette,
communications
major, said. “But until it is legalized fully for everyone, I support regulations on it.”

Proposed legislation

All of the bills affect medical
marijuana patients and caregivers, and eleven of the bills seek
to amend the MMMA, which
requires three quarters approval by both the House of Representatives and The Senate.
All of the laws are currently
sitting in the Senate and The
House of Representatives.
Bill SB 321 seeks to propose to
amend the Insurance Code of
1956 to exclude the medical use
of marijuana as an allowable expense within personal protection insurance coverage.
Bill SB 506 seeks to strictly
define what a bona-fide doctorpatient relationship is. Under
this law, doctors would need to

October 19, 2011

www.oaklandpostonline.com

take a medical history of the patient; perform a physical examination; review prior treatments
and responses and more.
A full list of proposed bills
can be seen at www.mpp.org
State senators Rick Jones and
Tonya Schuitmaker announced
late last month that they are
also drafting a legislation to
require at least one year of residency before obtaining a Michigan medical marijuana card.
“States are passing medical
marijuana laws in direct violation of the federal law, which
prohibits the prescription or
legal use of marijuana under any
circumstances. My take on that
it is ... it’s silly,” Amanda Burgess-Proctor, assistant professor
of sociology, said.
Burgess-Proctor teaches a
course on drugs and addiction
at OU and also wrote a guest
column for The Oakland Press
that discussed inconsistencies
the U.S. drug policy.
Michigan isn’t the only state
seeking to alter their medical
marijuana law, though. Illinois,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio and
Pennsylvania also currently
have pending legislation regarding medical marijuana.
Only two bills regarding
medical marijuana have passed
this year. While 16 house and
senate bills regarding medical
marijuana introduced in 2011
from states like Connecticut,
Florida and Texas failed to pass
and died when the legislature
adjourned.

Marijuana debate

But this isn’t the first time
controversy and debate has surrounded medical marijuana in
Michigan.
On Aug. 24, the Michigan
Court of Appeals declared commercial marijuana sales illegal
and most local medical mari-

OU faculty,
grad run for
school board
By ALI ARMSTRONG
Local Editor

SIERRA SOLEIMANI/The Oakland Post

Several bills have been introduced into state legislature that, if
approved, will affect the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.
juana dispensaries were forced
to close their doors. Now, medical marijuana patients must find
a dispensary that is still open
or turn to caregivers who will
agree to add them as patients.
But supporters and patients
of medical marijuana are not
taking the fight lying down.
Thousands of supporters and
patients of medical marijuana
traveled to Lansing early September to protest the proposed
restrictions on the practice in
Michigan.
“It’s a really dysfunctional
system of policies and I think
that we can be smarter about

our laws regarding drug policy,”
Burgess-Proctor said.
Now, places all over the state
are taking a stance in the debate
against medical marijuana.
Kalamazoo voters will decide next month whether to
write a relaxed attitude towards
medical marijuana into western
Michigan’s community City
Charter.
The ballot proposal would direct police enforcement against
small possessions of marijuana
a low priority. Approximately
2,600 signatures were gathered
for the proposal to make a spot
on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Rochester voters will select
candidates to serve for three six-year
terms on the Rochester Board of
Education on Nov. 8.
Three of the five candidates are
affiliated with Oakland University.
Faculty members Beth Talbert and
Pat Piskulich; and OU graduate Jane
Pierobon are all seeking for a spot on
the Rochester Board of Education.
Talbert is a current board member
who is running for re-election. She
has been an instructor at OU for 12
years and is the current director of
the communication program at OU.
She is also the former associate director of admissions.
Talbert holds a bachelor of English and communication from
Western Michigan University and
a masters degree in college student
personnel from Bowling Green State
University.
Piskulich is an associate professor of political science at OU and
has been a member of the Rochester
community for more than 20 years.
He said his background in political science and public policy analysis
could serve the community well.
OU grad Jane Pierobon is a part
time nurse at Henry Ford Health
Center and an Army Reservist.
Pierobon graduated from OU in
1990 with a bachelors of science in
nursing, and joined the U.S. Army
in 1990 with active duty from 19901994 at Walter Reed Medical Center
in Washington, D.C.
Pierobon has volunteered in classrooms, chaired school events and sat
on the Hugger PTA Board as vice
president of committees, membership and served two years as PTA
President.
Elections for the Rochester Board
of Education will be held Nov. 8.

Features

October 19, 2011

The Clatter
makes a

bang

Photo courtesy of Holly Gilbert

Kim Madeleine, left, and Lou Sysocki performed at Clancy’s Irish Pub in Clinton Township on Sept. 24. Madeleine is a special
lecturer in the journalism department at Oakland University.

Professor teaches by day, rocks out by night
By SARAH HUNTON
Staff Reporter

K

im Madeline, a special
lecturer in the journalism
department, fills two contrasting roles during sun up and sun
down.
By day, Madeleine teaches at
Oakland University and runs
his own public relations and
marketing firm called KRM
Communications, LLC. By
night, he hauls out his various
guitars to perform with his
band at local venues.
The band, The Clatter, is
comprised of drummer Dennis
Zabis, bassist Lou Wysocki
and Madeleine on guitar. They
formed about four years ago
and play classic rock and Motown tunes.
Madeleine began his musical
career as clarinetist, but soon
realized that it was more fun to
be able to sing while playing an
instrument.
At age 10, the music he
listened to influenced him to

15

www.oaklandpostonline.com

learn to play the guitar.
“The Beatles, the Stones,
they just wanted to make you
play guitar,” Madeleine said, “so
that’s what we did.”
Before starting college, Madeleine’s first band, The Flexx
Band, was close to reaching a
record deal. Their contact at
Warner Brothers, however, left
before they were able to finalize negotiations.
At 19, Madeleine decided that
he should go back to school
as opposed to purely touring
and living the rock star life.
He attended MSU and, with
drummer Zabis, revived The
Flexx Band.
“We actually played all the
time at Michigan State,” Madeleine said. “We played every
weekend, we had a booking
agent, so, to be blunt, it was
way more fun because I was
getting an education and playing rock and roll.”
Every few years, The Flexx
Band plays a reunion show.
Amy Eckhardt was a student

of Madeleine’s this past summer and wasn’t aware that her
teacher was a rock star until
a couple of weeks into the semester. She attended a gig The
Clatter played at Clancy’s in
Clinton Township on Sept. 24.
“The most entertaining part
of the evening was hearing
Kim hit the high notes while
singing,” Eckhardt said. “If you
have never heard him speak, he
has a very low voice. We were
all surprised that he could sing
that high.”
Donna Tinker, a public relations minor at OU, attended
the show with her husband
Brian after Madeleine mentioned during class that he is in
a band.
“It was really fun to see
students and faculty watching
everyone and having a good
time,” Tinker said. “It was
nice to see Kim as a person
as opposed to just a faculty
member.”
Both students believe that in
addition to being a good musi-

cian, Madeleine offers something special when he teaches.
“(Kim) is tremendously
excited about what he does and
that is quite obvious when you
see him teach,” Eckhardt said.
“He doesn’t treat students like
just students — he sees us as the
future of the industry.”
Tinker said Madeline is passionate about what he does and
wants his students to learn.
Just as many students at OU
have a soft spot for Madeleine,
he enjoys teaching them.
“My favorite aspect is mentoring students,” he said. “I find
that Oakland students are very
solid students who really seem
to want to do well in the real
world.”
When he’s not teaching or
playing his guitar, Madeleine
enjoys playing golf, traveling
and spending time with wife,
Linda, and two sons.
To sample some of The
Clatter’s music, visit www.
myspace.com/theclatterdetroit

BAND
OVERVIEW
FORMED: About four
years ago
GENRE: Classic rock
and Motown tunes
SOUNDS LIKE: The
Clatter keeps things
classic by covering
songs by artists such
as Tom Petty and The
Ramones.
INFLUENCES: The
Beatles, The Rolling
Stones

“It is our job as teacher educators to facilitate difficult discussions so that students
learn to think critically about their world
views,” he said. “They must also become
reflective practitioners to consider what
role they have in perpetuating the status
quo in their classrooms.”
In addition to his work in the classroom,
Larrabee further promotes diversity by
chairing a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning and allied
employee resource group, responsible
for getting gender and sexual orientation
included in OU’s antidiscrimination policy.

Staff Intern

T

im Larrabee, the head of Oakland University’s elementary science education
program for the teacher development and
educational studies department, received
the Chevrolet GREEN Educator Award for
the month of Oct, recognizing his efforts in
environmental education.

Green initiatives
Larrabee’s environmental education efforts include incorporating the Earth Force
curriculum into his elementary science
education classes, which encourages students to engage with their communities on
environmental issues, two of the required
criteria for consideration for the GREEN
award.
His students have worked to develop
plans to curb the growing deer population
on campus as well as increasing the awareness of senior citizens on environmental
issues.
Larrabee pursued teaching science after
seeing teachers take their classes through
the Sacramento Zoo, where he worked
as a volunteer after graduating from the
University of California at Davis with a
degree in psychology with an emphasis on
biology.

Teaching methods
“I didn’t have any career plans, but I
enjoyed talking with the public,” Larrabee
said. “And all the elementary school teachers who came by seemed to be having a lot
of fun.”
Larrabee returned to school to get his
teaching credential from National University in San Diego and spent 12 years as
a middle school science teacher in Sacramento before moving into higher education as a result of a shrinking job market
for teachers.
Now in his eighth year at OU, Larrabee
shows his elementary education students
that science doesn’t have to be that difficult.
“In the classroom, our students learn
how to teach science through inquiry by

LGBTIQA efforts

JESSICA CARMICHAEL/The Oakland Post

Tim Larrabee was recognized for his efforts in environmental education with the
Chevrolet GREEN Educator Award for the month of October.

conducting their own inquiries,” he said.
“Once they understand that science is
a process and not a bunch of facts to be
memorized, they tend to relax a bit and are
relieved to know they don’t have to know
everything.”
Senior Amanda Navarro, an elementary
education major specializing in language
arts, said there are many things she will
take away from Larrabee’s class and his
teaching style.
“He definitely presented his teaching
style in an engaging way and always taught
and modeled the way that we should for
our elementary students,” she said. “Dr.
Larrabee gave us the opportunity to work
with the Detroit Zoo, teaching inner city
kids through a program called City Critters.”

Classroom diversity
In addition to his work in the sciences,
Larrabee teaches a variety of courses on
diversity in the classroom. His goal is to
get students to look at issues from a variety
of different angles.
“You cannot teach diversity,” he said.
“What you can do is help students see the
world from different perspectives in order
to gain some insights into how others experience our world.”
Larrabee said that in today’s age of instant global communication, teachers must
be ready to help students begin to think
about the ideas of people from various
backgrounds and viewpoints. He frequently places students in groups in order
to get them used to working with different
people.

He also heads a task force on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity sponsored by
OU’s School of Education and Human Services, which is working on organizing the
first statewide conference on these issues.
Nationally, Larrabee chairs the Queer Studies Special Interest Group for the American
Educational Research Association.
Larrabee, who moved here with his husband, said his goal is to facilitate a better
educational experience for the LGBTIQA
community.
“One reason I pursued higher education
was to increase my circle of influence on
the field of teaching,” he said. Now, rather
than impacting the 160 students I taught
each year, I now have influence on how my
125 university students teach their 3,750
students (assuming they teach 30 students
each).”
Senior Catherine Pannell, a social work
major, said Larrabee opened up her mind
on diversity issues.
“I will take so much from the class,”
Pannell said. “The class taught me patience
and understanding. As a bisexual student
on campus, I came into the class thinking
that everything would be confirmation for
me, but it was so much more that I did not
know.”
Larrabee teaches teaching science at the
elementary-middle levels; managing the
classroom environment for diverse learning; multicultural education in the schools;
sexual orientation, gender identity and
education; and science for the elementary
teacher.

unior Steve Wynn is making
a difference, both at home at
Oakland University and abroad in
Germany.
Wynne, an English secondary education and German K-12
education double major, works in
Career Services as a peer mentor.
One of his duties is to advertise
the assistance offered by Career
Services through blogs and an
information table in the Oakland
Center.
“Steve makes a good peer
mentor because he has a lot of
enthusiasm for learning and sharing what he learns with others,”
Kathy Livelsberger, the assistant
director of Career Services, said.
As a peer mentor, Wynne gives
students resources that can help
them find internships or full employment. He is enthusiastic and

open to talking to other students
and is an advocate for taking on
risks and challenges, Livelsberger
said.
For his own career plans,
Wynne said he wants to teach
in an upper level high school or
an International Baccalaureate
school in Germany, where he
studied abroad last school year in
the city of Oldenburg.
“My goal is to return to
Germany to teach either English
literature for German students,
or German as a second language
for native English-speakers in
Germany,” Wynne said.
While studying abroad in
Germany, Wynne worked as an
English tutor for elementary-aged
Turkish students.
Wynne encourages all students
to study abroad — he said his own
international experience was lifechanging.
“It’s good to learn how different

people think and to have more
awareness of other cultures,” he
said.
Wynne is also active in the
community surrounding OU.
He was one of the first members
of “Rochester PRIDE,” which is
a “youth driven program that is
dedicated to the prevention of
drugs, alcohol, violence and self
harm,” according to their website,
www.prideofrochester.com
The program started at
Reuther Middle School, where
Wynne first joined. He was also
a member of Rochester PRIDE
through all four years of high
school at the International Academy in Bloomfield Hills.
As a member of the national
performance team for the PRIDE
Program, Wynne traveled to
the annual conference to spread
PRIDE’s message through acting, for which he won national
awards.

SIERRA SOLEIMANI/The Oakland Post

Steve Wynne , a junior studying English secondary education and
German K-12 education, is a peer mentor and community leader.
He was also a founding member
of “The Upper Room,” which
is a congregation for drug- and
violence-free youth in downtown

Rochester.
“We basically want to get kids
off the street and keep kids safe
and happy,” Wynne said.

The Seidman College of Business Part-Time
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The Scene

18

October 19, 2011

www.oaklandpostonline.com

Musical stylings of OU’s own
A new series featuring artistic talents of the Oakland student body

He calls his unique style of music, “Legit acoustic pop”. Bautista
formed Rival Summers four years ago while in high school. Since then,
he has played hundreds of shows and gained thousands of fans.
“It’s cool knowing a lot of people,” Bautista said. “I like the friendships
I make with the people
who like my music. ”
“It was a little intimidating at first
Bautista recorded the
because he’s Mike, and Every Avfirst Rival Summers fullenue is awesome,” Bautista said.
length album while only a
“After a while it was really awesophomore in high school.
some to work with him. (Govarere)
He traveled to Chicago to
record with Michael Govwas able to get my ideas out.”
aere, formerly of the band
Every Avenue.
Rival Summers has shared the stage with artists like The Scene Aesthetic, He is We and Rochester native, former lead singer of Chiodos,
Craig Owens. But his most recent accomplishment was having his music
played on 89x.

ALBUMS:

Ready When You Are,
released in October, 2009
Blankets & Sheets EP,
released in October 2010
Days Like This EP,
released in November 2010

LISTEN:
Facebook.com/rivalsummers

WHAT’S NEXT:

Rival Summers is currently in the
beginning stages of making a second full-length album and will start
recording in November. The album
is estimated to be released in the
spring.
“I really love what I do and I work
really hard,” Bautista said.
Rival Summers will be performingSat, Nov. 5 at the Floodcafe in St.
Clair Shoes.

After discovering that their unique
sense of humor and music styles were
the same, WXOU radio’s own Byrne and
DiPonio decided to form a band.
“Our style of music is pleasurable—it’s
the sound of honey bees connected with
the sound of pleasure,” Byrne said.
According to DiPonio and Byrne their
shows are full of people holding hands,
crying babies and grandmas.

ALBUMS:

Their first CD, an
acoustic album called
“An Acoustic Pony
Volume 1” was released in May 2011.

LISTEN:
Facebook.com/
theburningponies

“It would be like a
large prayer session
almost, a very spiritual
feel,” DiPonio said.
“We preach nothing but
peace, love and burning ponies.”

WHAT’S NEXT:

“There are multiple (albums) in the
works,” Byrne said. “We currently have
18 unfinished songs at the moment.”
They frequently perform at the OU
open mic nights every Thursday in the
Vandenberg lounge.
The Burning Ponies will be putting on
another events like the “The Burning
Ponies Fest” most likely in mid Nov.
Check out their radio show, “The
Burning Ponies Express” that is featured on WXOU every Thursday at 8
p.m.

If you are an OU student in a band, email scene@oaklandpostonline.com for a chance to be featured in a future segment.
­— Biography briefs compiled by Ashley Allison, Staff Intern

­— Designed by Kevin Romanchik, Scene Editor

October 19, 2011

The Scene // 19

www.oaklandpostonline.com

OUCARES rolls out the red carpet for film premiere
By ISABELLA SHAYA
Staff Intern

On Saturday. Oct. 15, Oakland
University Center for Autism
Research, Education, and Support
rolled out the red carpet and
hosted an event at Oakland University to showcase the talent and
work of the 2011 Summer Film
Camp participants.
OUCARES is a non-profit
organization that strives to
raise money and awareness for
children with Autism Spectrum
Disorder.
“The program that I kept hearing about from OUCARES staff
was the Film Camp,” Kathleen
Sweeney, director of OUCARES,
said.“I would hear ‘if you think
this is good, just wait until the
Summer Film Camp, it’s amazing.’ ”
The Summer Film Camp was a
two-week program in August that
gave kids and teenagers with ASD
the opportunity to write, act,
direct, and edit their own film.
At Saturday’s 2011 Film Premiere, camp participants, along

with friends and family, as well as
people interested in supporting
the organization, were invited
to view the film that the kids
produced this past summer.
“It’s interesting because being
in the camp, you see all the pieces
happening, you see all the kids
creating, writing, editing, bringing
in all the props, and then you
see them filming all the different
pieces,” Karin Chandler, program
coordinator for OUCARES,. “It
was so amazing to see it all come
together Saturday night.”
Joey Travolta, a well-known
actor, director and entertainer,
leads the Summer Film Camp
every summer.
He brings along nine crew
members from California, three of
which have ASD.
“Travolta and his team are
incredible at how they work with
these kids, communicate with
them, and bring their strengths
out,” Chandler said.
The film, which was over an
hour long, featured popcorn and
cookies provided by OUCARES,

GUSTAVO PESSUTTI/The Oakland Post

The OUCARES film premiere on Oct. 15 had over 400 people in attendance. OUCARES ran the film
camp from this past summer.
for its over 400 attendees.
“One minute you were laughing, the next minute you were
crying, and the next minute you
were crying from laughing so
hard,” Chandler said. “It was prob-

Across
1. Part of a book
5. An aggressive
remark
9. Restaurant bill
12. Underneath
13. Chills and fever
14. Kind of starch
16. Publish
17. Transmitted
18. An instinctive
motive
19. Entranceway
20. Writing tablet
21. Part of a stable
22. Watch face
24. Number of
items in a brace
26. Up to now
27. Back muscle
30. Mouthpiece
used to
control a horse
31. Ecstatic
33. Combined
35. Levy
36. Particle
40. Unwind
41. Sauce made of
fermented
beans

ably one of the most phenomenal
experiences I have ever had.”
Chandler believes the audience
who saw the film witnessed the
great artistic abilities of the children involved with the program.

The views expressed in Mouthing Off do not
necessarily reflect those of The Oakland Post.

www.oaklandpostonline.com

October 19, 2011

Major League Baseball is for fatties
By BRIAN FIGURSKI
Staff Reporter

It’s no surprise I hate sports. I’ve complained about it plenty of times; it’s one of
the things my life depends on.
On the flipside of that, I love being active
and promoting good health, while smoking
a cigarette. I really am an advocate of regular exercise and think there should be more
of an approach to get kids active at a younger age to prevent obesity and other medical
problems later in life.
That being said, I hate baseball.
I have never been a fan of the good ol’
American pastime in the first place, along
with my disdain of apple pie and freedom.
Does this place me on a terrorist watch list?
Baseball is a boring sport. It takes so long
to get exciting stuff stirring. I’m sure throwing a no hitter game is a triumph and exciting for Justin Verlander, I am completely
bored however watching you heave a ball.

I have given the game a chance. I’ve been
to Comerica Park. The most intriguing part
of my venture there was throwing ice off
the top of the McDonald’s onto streetwalkers below.
I was ejected before ‘Take Me Out To The
Ball Game.’
They even have a stadium-wide stretch
and yawn session three-quarters through
the game. The MLB knows the sport is terribly draining.
So why do I have such a terrible taste in
my mouth for baseball, a cornerstone of
American sports, instead of channeling my
disdain towards another more worthless
game as soccer or arena football?
Baseball promotes the fact that you can
be grossly overweight and out-of-shape and
still make millions of dollars.
I was watching the Tigers whoop some
Yankees into submission during the division series and noticed the gigantic gut

Top 5 signs of fall at OU
By STEVE WISEMAN
Contributing Reporter

5
4
3

Flip flops and fleeces become perfectly
acceptable attire for ladies on campus.

2
1

Bike share bikes begin coming with free
gloves.

Smokers begin to disregard the 50-foot
smoking policy even more.
Everyone begins gaining the “Freshman
15” due to the mass ingestion of cider
and donuts.

Deer have begun sleeping in the Student
Congress-sponsored hammocks outside.

flapping over the belt of New York pitcher
C.C. Sabathia.
The 290-pound man signed a deal back in
2008 with the Yankees for $161 million over
seven years.
Did the deal also come with a sponsorship and free daily meals at McDonald’s?
Those figures may not be completely accurate, like Sabathia’s pitches when he hurls
Ho-Hos into his mouth, but the point is this
guy makes his life playing a sport, a word
defined as ‘an athletic activity requiring
skill or physical prowess.’
If that’s the definition of sport, baseball
must fall under the category of leisure activities.
What kind of message does this send to
youth of the nation, having the ability to be
severely overweight with the slight ability
to throw a mean fastball and make more
money than I will ever possibly generate
over two lifetimes?

I feel as if people would see this grotesquely large human being and think that
this is a reasonable life choice, clogged arteries and a heart attack at the top of the sixth.
It’s a shame that the Tigers had to lose
to the Rangers, but they do have Miguel
Cabrera weighing them down. No pun intended.
Or maybe just a little.
The need for a large upper body to hit the
ball far, on the off-occasion someone actually hits the ball, is understandable. If your
broad shoulders allow you to clock up home
runs then you can munch your chicken
sandwich while you waddle the bases.
I truly am upset the Tigers have been
ousted from the pennant race, but at least
our lofty metro children can forget about
their husky heroes of baseball for some
time while they focus on basketball icons
that get arrested for drunk driving with gun
possession.